"About her brother", a tea with the Empress of the 7th art : Sayuri Yoshinaga

I spent some time after our event with director Yoji Yamada the director of "About her Brother" and with the most famous Japanese actress, the "Empress", as described by the critics, the star Sayuri Yoshinaga, who interpreted more than 100 movies. She is the Audrey Hepburn or the Catherine Deneuve of Japan. One of the most interesting chat we had with Yamada san and Sayuri sama was about France support to the cinema industry.

Most famous Japanese director Yoji Yamada spoke at a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo together with veteran actress Sayuri Yoshinaga and actor and "rakugo" storyteller Shofukutei Tsurube, both of whom starred in the film depicting a bond between siblings in a Japanese family.

Prizewinning Japanese film director Yoji Yamada (he directed the Tora san series, the longest production ever in Japan) pledged to continue to convey a message of hope through his works while encouraging other artists to develop originality and creativity so Japanese creations will be more competitive in the world.

I asked him about his constant message of hope in the movies Yamada directed and how he sees Japan today: "We have a bleak future...but it is important to wish to want to have hope and if we make films keeping the feeling, we can share that with viewers." Yamada Yoji was given the Berlinale Camera award at the Berlin film festival last month for this latest film "Otouto" (About Her Brother).

The 78-year-old filmmaker also lamented the decrease of Japanese films based on original stories and suggested it is necessary to deal with problems of "impoverished capabilities in planning and lack of creativity on the part of the filmmakers."

Film review:

Shochiku production. (International sales: Shochiku, Tokyo.) Produced by Suketsugu Noda, Hiroshi Fukasawa, Kenichi Tamura, Ichiro Yamamoto. Executive producer, Junichi Sakomoto. Directed by Yoji Yamada. Screenplay, Yamada, Emiko Hiramatsu.

With: Sayuri Yoshinaga, Tsurube Shofukutei, Yu Aoi, Ryo Kase, Yuriko Ishida, Takashi Sasano, Fumiyo Kohinata, Nenji Kobayashi, Haruko Kato, Gajiro Satoh, Koen Kondo, Leo Morimoto, Midoriko Kimura, Rasaru Ishii, Akio Yokoyama, Medaka Ikeno, Sotaro Tanaka.

Any resemblance between Yoji Yamada's 81st feature, "About Her Brother," and Kon Ichikawa's 1960 masterpiece of the same name is purely incidental. Though Yamada calls his film an homage to the earlier drama, this run-of-the-mill meller about a sister and her boorish brother offers few genuine laughs and zero texture. Lacking the style of the helmer's period pieces, the overtly sentimental pic won't milk tears out of most foreign filmgoers, but Yamada's rep will land it scattered fest berths and limited play in some European capitals. Local biz has been tailing off rapidly following a late January opening.

Presumably Yamada's long-standing relationship with the Berlin Film Festival explains why "About Her Brother" incongruously bagged the closing-night slot. Rather precious narration by Koharu (Yu Aoi) provides the background story, leading up to the eve of her marriage when she's living with her pharmacist mom, Ginko (Sayuri Yoshinaga of "Kabei: Our Mother"), and frosty grandma (Haruko Kato).

They haven't been able to locate Ginko's long-lost younger brother Tetsuro (Tsurube Shofukutei), but then at the wedding, he unexpectedly arrives, downing large quantities of alcohol and making an embarrassing spectacle of himself. The sequence, full of hackneyed lowbrow comedy, feels endless. Tetsuro is sent back to Osaka, but sometime later, his g.f., Hitomi (Midoriko Kimura) shows up on Ginko's doorstep, tearfully asking Ginko to cover the 1.3 million yen ($14,000) Tetsuro borrowed and then blew on a gambling habit.

Sometime later, Tetsuro appears in Tokyo, and Ginko and Koharu, now divorced, kick him out, though the bonds of sisterly affection rise to the surface once Ginko learns he's dying of cancer in an Osaka hospice for the indigent. What started as a toneless comedy, reminiscent of bland early 1960s family laffers, turns into an earnest meller as a thick layer of pathos settles over the remaining 35 minutes.

It's been a decade since Yamada set a film in the present day, and it appears he's lost a sense of contempo naturalism. Dialogue is passed back and forth as if in a stage piece shot for the smallscreen, and the syrupy final quarter, which tries to recast Tetsuro's exasperating behavior as the result of low self-esteem and a failed career, feels especially forced. Rather than offering a memorable portrait of a middle-class family, the pic merely recycles stereotypes without examination, offering yawns where there should be insight.

Subtlety is dispensed with, such as when a crack of thunder accompanies an argument between Tetsuro and Ginko. More than the other thesps, Yoshinaga tries her best to give her character some life, but her Ginko ends up as merely pleasant and very vanilla; Shofukutei starts off as everyone's nightmare of an annoying uncle and, notwithstanding the character's subsequent illness, never changes.

Visuals are solid if unexceptional, revealing surfaces but not anything underneath. One exception is the way Yamada takes great care in clearly demarcating the seasons, calling attention to winter snow, summer heat and spring rain, and yet not once are they used in any meaningful way. Most auds will find sympathies curdled even further by the sappy music.

Camera (color), Masashi Chikamori; editor, Iwao Ishi; music, Isao Tomita; production designer, Mitsuo Degawa; sound (Dolby Digital), Kazumi Kishida. Running time: 126 MIN.

Sources: wire news, mainichi, variety, reporter's notes

Encounter with the Asakura Clan's Samurai

I just attended a press tour organized by the Foreign Press Center of Japan http://fpcj.jp/ and the Fukui prefecture to report about the prefecture, industry, economy, culture, and it was an occasion to visit the Fast Breed Reactor Monju, closed since the 1995 sodium leak and object of multiple controversies especially regarding the security of nuclear power plants. I'll come back about this topic some time soon.

Samurai of the Asakura clan who likes to portray himself into the authentic old warrior armor

I found fascinating the local culture life of the Fukui region, mountains and deep valleys on the coast of the Japan sea. History here is genuine and never dies: Located in Fukui City, the Ichijodani Asakura Clan Ruins for instance, are one of the most important relics of the Warring States Period (15th-17th centuries). They are the ruins of the castle town owned by five warring lords of the Asakura Family who ruled Echizen for 103 years. The castle town was built in the middle of the 16th century with a population of 10,000. However, when the Asakura Family was defeated by Oda Nobunaga in 1573, the town was burned down and its long history came to end.

The first serious excavation research started in 1967, revealing the shape of the whole town, including the house of the lord, samurai residences, temples, houses of merchants, houses of craft workers, and streets. The research is still in the progress and has drawn much attention from history researchers. The ruins are designated as a special historic site and a special place of scenic beauty. The dug up articles were designated as important cultural properties. Other than the ruin, there are only five places with those three designations above, including the Golden Pavilion, Kinkakuji, in Kyoto, and Itsukuchima Shinto Shrine in Hiroshima.

Here is one of the Samurai who contributes to the patrimony and the history of the Asakura Samurai clan. A very strong and proud people, indulged into their patrimony and desiring to communicate about their roots, traditions and expectations. Today this region is fighting very hard to revitalize the area, both culturally and economically. I was impressed to see that elder generations have lost nothing of their energy and good sense.

A Samurai was a member of a powerful military caste in feudal Japan, esp. a member of the class of military retainers of the daimyos.

More details here:

The Ichijodani Asakura Clan Ruins (Fukui City)

http://www.city.fukui.lg.jp/lang/english/kankou/ichijo.html

Japan tsunami warning lifted

Smaller and less disastrous than predicted. Japanese prefectures had urged a total of 320,000 people to evacuate in the northeast, half a million nationwide, as the waves were expected to be more than 3 meters high. Japan lifted the alarm early Monday, ending the fear of population alarmed by local televisions of the possibility of a killer wave.

A test for emergency evacuation and crisis management

Transportation on many lines of the country's railways and highways has also been initially suspended due to the tsunami. Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama appealed earlier in the day to people not to go near to the coastal areas and stay in the shelters until the evacuation orders are lifted. "We must not drop our guard and please don't go near the coast, " Hatoyama said on TV.

As the first waves approached the archipelago areas, the Japanese weather agency downgraded tsunami alert from a rare "major" to normal level for the northeastern region at about 7 p.m. Sunday, relieving most of the fears as local TV's said after a "tsunami" of reports alarming, falsely some critics say, the population .

The waves first hit a small island of Ogasawara islands midday local time, 2000 km south of Tokyo. Waves of up to 30 cm were seen in the eastern coast of Hokkaido at around 2pm. At 1548 a tsunami of 120 cm was observed in Iwate prefecture's Kuji port. Some roads near the Kuji port and Kesennuma Port in Miyagi Prefecture were flooded and the water level had been rising with no harm to infrastructures or people. Only Otsuchi, also in Iwate prefecture, reported a tsunami of about 1.45 meters at the town's fishing port.

It is the first time in more than 15 years for Japan to issue a major tsunami alert, a warning with top intensity level. Japan is very cautious about tsunamis and earthquakes as in May 1960, a tsunami struck the coasts of Hokkaido and the Sanriku region of Japan after the huge 9.5-magnitude quake in Chile, leaving around 140 people dead or missing.

I covered for Radio France broadcasters on July 12, 1993 a devastating tsunami wave which occurred along the coasts of Hokkaido in Japan as a result of a magnitude 7.8 earthquake, 80 miles offshore.

Desolation http://bit.ly/ZUvIV

The President of Chile says on Monday morning in the first evaluation of the seism that more than 700 people died in the earthquake that hit the country on Saturday.

Japan calm while tsunami small waves reach the shore

Minami Torishima - Ogasawara (the Bonin islands http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonin_Islands ) 10 centimeters tsunami wave.

No incidents reported. In spite of what western media especially TVs' say, there is NO sign of panic since last night, just sense of awareness as people here are trained for years in case an alert.

BUT Japan is under alert until 9PM local time.

So far 245.000 households advised to evacuate from 15 prefectures.

Japan under alert: Tsunami coming, TVs' say

Thousands being evacuated from Japan Pacific ocean coast

The tsunami, running high speed on the Pacific ocean, could hit northern areas of Japan's main island of Honshu around 1 p.m. --in 15 minutes from now-- 4 a.m UT, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

The tsunami warning covered the eastern seaboard of Japan, although for Tokyo Bay and many other areas the warnings were for waves of only around one meter (3 ft), similar to that seen earlier in Hawaii and New Zealand.

In May 1960, a tsunami struck the coasts of Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido and other northern Pacific coastal areas after an earthquake in Chile, killing around 140 people. The affected northern region has many small harbors, these could concentrate the force of a tsunami, if strong.

Many Japanese harbors have had sea gates installed to try to protect from tsunami and storms and authorities ordered these closed this morning. "Coastal barriers have been built since the 1960 tsunami so we can't simply compare the situation with that time but it is still crucial that people evacuate," said an union member of the Kamaishi Eastern Fishery Union in Iwate, in northern Honshu quoted by wire service news.

Meanwhile, in Tokyo, the International Tokyo Marathon continues, under a heavy cold rain and the loud noise of helicopters of the local TV networks filming the run, adding lots to the population anxiety.

On the TV screen, one can see marathon runners apparently under pressure to end their run before the Tsunami strikes the coast, if it does, while TV networks run lots of advertising since the early morning.

"Sham trial in Burma"

Aung San Suu Kyi maintained under house arrest

"The struggle for democracy and human rights in Burma is a struggle for life and dignity. It is a struggle that encompasses our political, social and economic aspirations."

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi http://bit.ly/cIUApu

No, I won't talk about Mao Asada's silver medal at the Vancouver olympics... On my information hierarchy ladder, I don't see this relevant today. I'll focus on AASK (Aung San Suu Kyi), a martyr, victim of the tyranny and the hypocrisy of the Burmese junta and of failures of foreign governments to free the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize.

Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese opposition leader, failed yesterday in her latest legal attempt to put an end to over a decade of brutal house arrest. Burma's country's highest court rejected an appeal against her sentence. The supreme court's decision was widely expected. Her lawyer will now launch a final special appeal to the supreme court but first needs to know the reasons why the latest attempt had been rejected. "The court order did not mention any reasons," he said. Diplomats from Australia, France GB and the US attended.

The British envoy stated that "the decision comes as no surprise, it is deeply disappointing. We continue to believe that Aung San Suu Kyi should be released immediately, along with the other 2,000 and more prisoners of conscience." French ambassador Jean-Pierre Lafosse said the 64-year-old democracy leader was "the victim of a sham trial." United Nations top chief Ban Ki Moon declared he is "disappointed Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's appeal against her extended house arrest was dismissed."

Aung Din, executive director of the US Campaign for Burma lobby group condemned the Burmese judiciary system as "part of the regime's oppressive mechanism... The only way to make the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners in Burma is to keep putting maximum pressure on Than Shwe and his cronies until they feel the heat!"

Daw (honorific term as Madam) Aung San Suu Kyi, 64, is the General-Secretary of the National League for Democracy. Suu Kyi lead the NLD to a landslide victory in Burma's last national elections, in 1990*, which the junta refused to recognize since then, and jailed opponents. She was the recipient of the Rafto Prize and the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 1990 and the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. In 1992 she was awarded the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding by the Government of India.

✍✍✍ World criticisms disapproved of yesterday's junta's move against democracy and criticize Burmese (Myanmar) dictators' lack of conscience, including the US, Europe, but no complains yet came from China who is Burma's main sponsor in the South East Asian region but not to defend human rights... you know... the western concept of humanitarian rights.

* Burma 1990 general election: In 1990, the military junta called a general election, which the National League for Democracy won by an overwhelming 82% of the votes. Being the NLD's candidate, Aung San Suu Kyi under normal circumstances would have assumed the office of Prime Minister. Instead, the results were nullified, and the military refused to hand over power. This resulted in an international outcry. Aung San Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest at her home on University Avenue in Rangoon. During her arrest, she was awarded the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 1990, and the Nobel Peace Prize the year after. Her sons Alexander and Kim accepted the Nobel Peace Prize on her behalf. Aung San Suu Kyi used the Nobel Peace Prize's 1.3 million USD prize money to establish a health and education trust for the Burmese people.

Aung San Suu Kyi books

Here is a link collecting the books written by Aung San Suu Kyi http://tinyurl.com/yepwcj6

Campaign symbol "with the aim to encourage awareness of Aung San Suu Kyi and the human rights issues in Burma by growing sunflowers and spreading their seeds" by ASSK supporters' blog http://dassk.org/index.php

(Sources: wire services, wikipedia, 651 articles of newspapers, reporter's notes)

Storytelling and myth about Toyota's crisis

"Toyota's success generated anxieties among car makers, medias, national interests

offering a perfect target for economic intelligence"

Since Toyota entered into a spiral of inflated statements

regarding the security of their cars, I felt like there

was a topic to investigate beyond the path of official

statements, both of the firm and the market. I read tons

of reports and sent my own stories to Paris, then days

after, seeing the increase of assassinating reports

shelled from the US targeting the Japanese firm, I

focussed even more on Toyota development. Curiosity?

There is more than a business story here and the man at

the helm is sincere. He's maybe the only one.

"I fear the pace at which we have grown may have been too quick"

I never really had a single look for such sedan vehicle,

privileging more the roadster type of cars, but the

crisis stirred my curiosity. So I took my pen, recorder

and asked a few people around a finance event, held since

Monday in a major hotel complex downtown Tokyo. Now,

reading papers, blogs and twitts, I found a hate campaign

and it was highlighted in this article blog title which

caught me by surprise: "Toyota Congressional Hearing

Theater by Daniel Farber" on CBS.

http://tinyurl.com/yhz4fcz

The word chosen here --theater-- might actually be the

right word for a horde of journalists who decided that

the Nagoya firm had lived long enough and that it had to

die, now.

Smeary campaigns

There are right now industrial and financial empires

which are on course of collisions, following the drowning

of GM, the US car market was ready to shoot at Japan Inc.

The misleading of the Nagoya firm came after the recall

of 8 million cars and the death of 5 people in cars

accidents in the US. From there the critics are mostly

vociferous. Still, there is no more probability of

dangers with Toyota than with an other car maker, and the

high standard of vehicles are guarantees that the firm

produce quality cars. But some don't buy it.

Quotes: Buzz and craze

"The reason is that the Toyota story is a fabricated

tale." "Toyota Calamity Presents Fresh Opportunity For

Rivals." "Toyota PR needs to quit clowning around." "Will

the Prius Brake Scandal Mean the End of Toyota?"

There even is a sense of holly war, as transpacific

writers and evangelists alike entertained. More, serious

university such as the Harvard Business School" entered

into the craze: "Tragedy at Toyota: How Not to Lead in

Crisis" http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/6381.html

This other one mixed with some sense of crusade: "You

live by the sword, you die by the sword. Toyota's weapon

of choice has always been quality, a competitive

advantage that prompted many Americans to stop buying GM

and Ford brands. Toyota can only regain its footing by

transforming itself from top to bottom to deliver the

highest quality automobiles." etc...

"Schadenfreude is joy at the misfortune of others"

Could it be that there is a media myth behind Toyota

problem? Any dirty hand in the tool box?

According to a source, expert in Japan automobiles

manufacturing, the current shot on Toyota technical

recall is nothing else than an operation that was set by

spooks: "Toyota's success generated anxieties among car

makers, medias, national interests offering a perfect

target for economic intelligence" one source said.

"Toyota is a threat to car makers, the firm has a top

position and any technical trouble in this period of

depression and economic crisis, it's good to get a

villain," according to an other source specialized in

economy.

But an other expert of the car industry went even further

yesterday telling me there is a probability that the "US

intelligence manages now the Toyota crisis to manipulate

media and facts." No wonder, there are some who seem to

be smoking their own office carpets to deliver such

crackbrained statement but who can deny that Toyota's

pain is the other car makers gain...?

Well, not exactly: "Many “Buy American” backers are

besides themselves with glee at the potential downfall of

a smug Japanese giant. And GM is trying to take

advantage of the Toyota crisis by offering $1,000 to

people trading in Toyotas, Nathan Hegedus writes in

"thefastertimes.com".

Testify!

Three congressional hearings called to investigate how

Toyota and federal safety officials handled the sudden

acceleration problem. Other Toyota officials, including

Chief Executive Akio Toyoda, are then scheduled to appear

today and next week.

Why Toyota president accepted to testify? "Why other

regions in the world did not enter into a media,

politics, industry triangle of interests" my source

added. EU did not.

While we do not know why the car accelerates suddenly.

Toyota president Akio Toyoda agreed that the "expansion

of the firm safety and volume might have confused the car

maker".

Already, in response to what he characterized as a

communications breakdown between customers and company

safety engineers, Toyota's US COO Jim Lentz told the

congress that the automaker would soon implement a "swat

team" of specialists who would investigate vehicles with

safety troubles within 24 hours.

And then I found this peace from CBS again pinpointing

rightly the target:

"Jim Lentz told the House Energy & Commerce Oversight

Subcommittee yesterday that the company will share

results of a "comprehensive evaluation" of the

automaker’s ETCS-i system (Electronic Throttle Control

System with intelligence) that is has commissioned from

an outside engineering consultant, Exponent, as soon as

those results are complete. CBS News Investigative

Correspondent Sharyl Attkisson has obtained a

confidential copy of the Exponent report, dated Feb. 4,

2010. The report attempts to exonerate the electronic

throttle controls system in Toyota vehicles."

Company sales grow...

Toyota sold 537,454 vehicles in January, excluding

subsidiaries Hino and Daihatsu Motors. 416,411 Toyota

cars, buses and trucks overseas and 121,043 units in

Japan. In Japan, sales jumped 45.3 percent during the

same month from the previous year, while they gained 8.8

percent overseas, Toyota said... The new figures

underlined robust demand for the iconic Japanese

automaker although it faces a deep crisis over its flawed

accelerator and brake systems that have forced it to pull

8.7 million vehicles worldwide... Earlier this month the

company said it expects to burn two billion dollars in

earnings in the year to March 2010 due to the recalls,

but still sees a net profit of 80 billion yen for the

year against an earlier forecast of a loss...." Afp

writes.

Toyota dead-end or power ups opportunity?

A few things appear as sure things eventually : 1) Toyota

needs a crisis team 2) consumer sentiment in February

might be influenced by the publicity given to Toyota

defects and 3) wouldn't it be time to use such painful

blunders to enhance technologies and harmonize these with

current time : clear cars, EV and their declination of

car types and brands and make those more profuse on the

market? Our media rush into hanging hundreds of

engineers bizarrely has a smell of witch-hunt, it is not

helped by the arrogance of a firm that forgot what

quality meant. Will it end?

Epilogue

How to win a cause when you are party to it? Here is the

point: "Unfortunately USA Government owns Toyota’s

biggest competitors."

Here... http://tinyurl.com/yfs5bj6

Media's daredevils shows usually end in embarrassment

Korea asks France to return Joseon relics

Memory damaged or just populist politics?

Korean martyrs. Faith and war, when Koreans massacred their own

Christians and French missionaries.

The French campaign against Korea of 1866, known as

Byeonginyangyo (Korean: Western Disturbance of the

byeong-in year (1866), refers to the French occupation

of Ganghwa Island in retaliation for the execution of

French Jesuit priests and thousands of the converts.

The Confucianist establishment, including the Joseon

Dynasty rulers, did not embrace Christianity. The

largest massacre of Catholics was carried out in 1866,

under Daewongun, while he served as regent for King

Gojong. In the Catholic Persecution of 1866, nine French

missionaries and Korean converts, numbering in the

thousands were killed. The killings in 1866 attracted

the attention of the French, who began to visit Korea

seeking retaliation for the murder of their priests.

French campaign against Korea, 1866

The first French missionary to Korea, Father Philippe

Maubant, arrived in the country in 1836. After that

date, missionaries would continue to come to Korea from

China, often at great risks. In September 1846, the

French Admiral Jean-Baptiste Cécille sailed to Korea in

order to obtain the release of an imprisoned Korean

priest named André Kim, but Kim was soon executed. In

1847, after various involvements in Vietnam and Okinawa,

Cécille again sailed to Korea to try to infiltrate some

missionaries, but his ship ran aground and he had to be

rescued by a British ship.

In 1866, reacting to greater numbers of Korean converts

to Catholicism as well as the humiliations suffered by

China at the hands of Westerners during the Opium Wars,

the Korean court clamped down on the illicit French

missionaries, massacring French Catholic missionaries and

Koreans converts alike.

French frigate "La Guerriere" commanded by Admiral Roze.

Source "Soie et lumieres" Christian Polak of Seric K.K.

That same year France launched a punitive expedition

against Korea, invading and occupying portions of Ganghwa

Island in the fall of 1866. At the first battle, the

Korean infantry division lost heavily, and General Yang

Heon-su concluded that only a large cavalry division

could stand up to French firepower. An ambush by Korean

forces on a French party attempting to occupy the

strategically located Cheondeung Temple on the island‘s

south coast resulted in French casualties. French

realization that they were far outnumbered and outgunned

forced them to abandon the island and their expedition.

The entire incident later became known as the byeong-in

yang-yo, or foreign disturbance of the byeong-in year

(1866).

France and Korea established their first official

relations in 1886 after a Treaty of Friendship, Commerce

and Navigation was signed between the two countries. In

1887 , France sent its first official representative,

Victor Collin de Plancy along with his translator,

Maurice Courant. Courant would later be known as the

"father" of Korean studies in France. In France, the

first records of a Korean living there permanently, Hong

Jong-u, who arrived there not too long after official

relations were established. Arriving in Marseille in

1890, he will spend a few years working in France in a

museum where he would be very helpful in establishing the

first Korean Art and Culture section. Yet, it would not

be until the 1900 Paris World's Fair Exposition

Universelle that Korea would be "introduced" to the

French public.

Partners with time

Today both countries have excellent relations. On the

matter of North Korea, France is one of the few European

countries to not have official diplomatic relations with

the DPRK. France supports the Six-party talks as well as

the role of the IAEA in finding solutions to the nuclear

issue on Korean peninsula. Korean Foreign Minister Yu

Myung-hwan will welcome French Foreign Minister Bernard

Kouchner next month in Seoul.

One issue still divides both countries. A total of 297

ancient books that dictate the protocols of royal

ceremonies and rites of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910)

were taken by the French military from a library on

Ganghwa Island off the country’s west coast during an

1866 invasion after the massacre of French priest by

Koreans. Here: http://tinyurl.com/ya9htjx

A single book was returned to Korea on a permanent lease

in 1993 by France’s then-President Francois Mitterand.

At that time in 1993 this issue created a stir of anger

in France as actress Sophie Marceau had taken the side of

Korea, while the actress was on a guests' list of

Mitterrand during the official visit in Korea, prompting

strong remarks from officials and the press on the tune

of " what the hell does she know about history"...

Not only France. Japan's Imperial Household Agency holds

hundreds of historic books of Korea's Joseon Dynasty

(1392-1910), according to South Korean government survey.

The books have been stolen by Japan's Government General

of Korea during Japanese colonial rule of the Korean

Peninsula from 1910 to 1945. Similar calls were made for

a collection of documents known as the Royal Protocols of

the Joseon Dynasty, confirmed to have been kept by the

Imperial Household Agency.

Under a Unesco convention signed in 1970, cultural

properties obtained through illegal means since that year

are subject to restoration, but those obtained prior to

the convention - regardless of how they were acquired -

can lawfully be registered as national properties by the

country that possesses them, as are the Korean texts at

France’s national library, according to officials at

Seoul’s foreign ministry. There are approximately 7,000

South Koreans living in France, more if one recounts

Korean French adoptees, and 6,000 French people living in

South Korea.

Korea's memory troubled by 40 years of dictatorship

Lee Han-yeol

On this picture a fellow Yonsei university student holds

Lee Han-yeol, injured in the head by a tear gas shell

used by riot police during a demonstration at Yonsei

University in Seoul against the military dictatorship of

then President Chun Doo-hwan in Seoul June 9, 1987. Lee

Han-yeol's injury became a trigger for mass rallies all

around ROK South Korea. Lee died in hospital on July 5th

1987 after the military regime gave in to democratization

demands on June 29, following mass pro democracy

demonstrations across the country ending Chun Doo-hwan

regime.

All of these events happened prior to the Olympic Games

of 1988. As I reported for the French national radio, I

can testify that at that time the Korean police and thugs

with them shot at students and journalists without

warning. I was myself shot at during a demonstration

during the democratization with my colleague Roberto

near the Lotte Hotel, down town. We saved a Korean

demonstrator life who fell in the staircase while the

police ran behind kicking viciously all witnesses. I'll

write about these historic events related to Asia post

80's I have been following in a book to come.

(Reporter's notes and SK media).

I spent exciting professional time working in ROK first

during the democratization that crumbled the US sponsored

military dictators Chun Doo Hwan and Noh Tae Woo, and

often visited Korea during the olympic games, and

witnessed the prowess of Koreans during the Asia Football

world cup of 2002, and am a watcher of technologies

blossoming of Korean's way of life. Last but not least,

I'm still very found of Sorak-san chain of mountains

which I toured with my KBS and Seoul national university

rumbling 's friends. I even witnessed bears over there

but did not see any of them eating any roots or garlic,

just fresh flesh hunt in the wild mountains, not so far

from the North...

Sources: archives of Korean newspapers, reporter's notes)

A VDO about Korea Joseon dynasty

URL http://tinyurl.com/ygqfzsd

Seoul today